Week in Review–May 14th, 2017

The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter and Facebook, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!

So with that, let’s get into the action!

DCRainmaker.com posts in the past week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this past week:

Sports Tech Deals This Week:

While the big 20% off sale ended this past week, there are two minor sets of details remaining. One is on Garmin stuff that ends next weekend, and another on TomTom stuff that ends later today. First up is the Garmin stuff:

2) Apple buys Beddit Sleep Tracking: A long time ago I bought a Beddit. Not the whole company though, just one unit. Haven’t used it much since. Still, their much newer products look cooler. Will be interesting to see if Apple’s grand plan is to incorporate the tech into their watches, or if it’s to branch out into additional categories of products.

3) GoPro’s trade-up program (this is a good deal!): I keep forgetting to mention this, as when it first launched it didn’t work (even the pages) from outside the US. And that’s still true. But basically you get $100 off for returning *any* GoPro, no matter how old, broken, or otherwise f’d up that GoPro is, as long as you return it, you get $100 off a new GoPro. Sweet!

7) Don’t put that there: Living abroad we have many expat friends. Over time though, most move on. Either back home or onwards to another country for work relocation. While nothing to do with sports (though they are avid runners), I found this post from our friends that left us last fall pretty funny. It’s talking about the hilariously wonky ways that they have to sort trash in South Korea (where they relocated to).

8) Large power meter accuracy study: Lots of chatter about this 54 units study. It’s interesting stuff, and I’ve chatted with one of the folks doing it a bit as well this week. Overall I don’t see any core issues with what they did. As they noted in an e-mail to me though, it only focuses on indoor – which limits things a bit. One of the challenges with power meters these days is that the overwhelming majority of accuracy issues actually happen outdoors (temperature changes, road conditions, humidity shifts, etc…). Note on models that most of them tended to be older units, rather than newer units. Pros and cons to that both ways actually. Still, this is an impressive pile of data to put together, good stuff!

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one-liners are perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good? Oh – and if you want to get a head start on things, this page is a great resource for watching Garmin firmware updates

With continual bug fixes and improvements it seems to me that the standard firmware updates are always in Beta so future updates should be called Gamma. Some products have gone out of production and support without ever reaching a final stable update. Instead of introducing new features they should first stabilize the current ones. My HRM History: Polar XTrainer Plus Polar S710 Garmin Forerunner 610 Garmin Fenix 5

Looks to me like one bike mount and one wrist mount. The watch is released with the grey lever on the left and swapped, leaving the strap on your wrist when the watch is in the bike mount. Not sure I’d trust the grey lever not to get pushed accidentally but I’m getting to trust the QR straps despite the probable rust issues with seawater so probably just a case of getting used to it.

Thanks, that helps a ton. I’m a bit confused by what all the rubber pieces are for? But otherwise looks pretty good. I am slightly surprised that the hole neither goes all the way to the lip of the optical sensor nor is open enough to allow the charging cable to fit through it – seems like it might add mild discomfort. I know for a lot of people even huge sensor bumps cause no discomfort at all, but as somebody who never used to wear a watch at all, I do get discomfort at the crease of the sensor bump and the charging port area after wearing the watch for a while. Hopefully the quick release doesn’t bother me or get super gunked up with sweat – I’m a super sweaty dude.

Also the way it works makes me feel even stronger that you could make due with a Fenix 5 by using two pairs of QuickFit bands flipped inside-out so the releases are accessible.

It also makes me even more confused (like Ray) as to why they wouldn’t make one for the 5’s – yeah they’re different sizes so that means extra molds, but given the simplicity of it and how popular the Fenix 5’s are, that’s still kinda weird to me.

I’m not saying to fit the Fenix 5 in the mount, but rather that you could create a makeshift quick release system using 2 pairs of quickfit bands turned inside out – one on your wrist and one mounted on the bike. Anybody who got a Sapphire Fenix 5, 5s, or any 5x should have 2 quickfit bands. It definitely wouldn’t be as good though.

The link to the Garmin Update says it is for the Garmin 935, and then the ominous warning:

“WARNING: If this software is uploaded to a device other than that for which it is designed, you will not be able to operate that device. If attempts to upload software fail, you may need to return the device to Garmin® for service.”

So will this work for the 235? How about the 225 (the one I have :-) )?

I would be wary of the subscription running service (Racepass) as it seems their model doesn’t really show any positive cashflow, and race directors aren’t aware of the service so there isn’t a harmonious relationship there (yet).

It’s hard because we don’t consume any 4K content. In fact, about the only 4K content I view is the stuff I create or that I find on YouTube.

We use Apple TV for everything at the house, and that’s not 4K capable. So, no point there.

And in the DCR Cave I don’t actually have a great setup in terms of trainers and TV’s. I have a TV, but I rarely use it when on the trainer. Most times I just use an iPad on Zwift/TrainerRoad and my laptop on YouTube. The walls down there aren’t in an awesome way to support a really big TV without losing a lot of floor space (which is at a premium).

5 Easy Steps To The Site

You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.

It turns out I’ve written a fair bit of stuff over the past few years – and after it disappears from my front page, a lot of it never really sees the light of day again without Google’ing skillz. Or a photographic memory…which I don’t have. I’ve taken a look back and found stuff that…continues to find a trickle of readers via web searches or forum links.

I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.